College Pals
by Laura the Lucian
Summary: Sylvester and Toby, two geniuses who suffer through college together, only to become friends in the end. But to Sylvester, Toby is his older brother.
1. Meeting Sylvester

This is going to be my first major story and I'm still debating whether I should make it 5 or 10 chapters. May post on AO3. Rated T for language. Not new to actual Scorpion fandom, just new to the fanfiction version. The only reason I wrote this was to help cure my Sylvester and Toby brotherly bonding needs. I guess I'm writing this when Toby gets his second PhD, I don't know when it happened, but where was probably Harvard. Anyways, enjoy.

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 **Summary:** A story about how Toby and Sylvester met. Sylvester is only 16 and Toby is 27. I suck at summaries and titles.

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Chapter 1: Meeting Sylvester

Dr. Tobias M Curtis sat in his Human Relations class, bored as hell. He knew he should be paying attention but he knew everything already, this was his second PhD. It would be easier if he could take a walk but he couldn't, he was stuck where he was. The doctor began tapping his pencil on the table in front of him. _Tap. Tap. Tap._ It wasn't curing his boredom, but it would have to do.

The girl sitting next to him, Pamela or Patricia, something like that, tapped his shoulder. "Can you please stop that? It's really annoying." She asked as politely as she could.

"I'm stressed. What else am I supposed to do that isn't annoying? Besides shouldn't you be worrying about your paper?"

"I'm trying to focus and all I hear is you tapping your damn pencil!" she hissed back "Shouldn't _you_ be working on your paper as well?"

"I'm already done with it. Want to read it?" Toby asked as he took the pages out of a folder he had. "I usually help my friend with his project during this class, but yesterday he told me to just come here and that he could handle it."

She stared at the three pages, there was writing on the front and back of each page. "How long did it take you to do all of this?"

"Two hours, with four five minute breaks because I lose my focus when I write for too long."

"Excuse me, Dr. Curtis, Ms. Dineen, is there a problem between the two of you? Do you both have your assignments done?" the professor, Dr. Damon asked

"I do, sir." Toby responded

"I am just about done with mine, just have to finish a page and then I'm done." Paige –right, that was her name- added.

"Excuse me, sir, could I go see if my friend needs help with that project of his? He kinda has a deadline of next week." Toby asked

"I suppose, Dr. Curtis, since you've already taken my class."

"Ah, thank you." Toby left the room quickly, hoping his friend Walter O'Brien was at least taking a break.

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The halls were quiet, thankfully, which made his thought process better. Noise clouded his thoughts. He didn't need that while he tried to think.

"Come on, rainman! What's two times two?"

There was a small whimper, and Toby looked up, realizing just where he was. In the middle of a fight. The kid wasn't fighting back, he just curled himself into a protective ball. Toby knew these assholes, Chad, Erik, and Brandon. They had done the same to him when he first came to Harvard. What was this kid doing here?

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Toby Curtis? Or should I say Dr. Curtis? I keep forgetting." Chad laughed "We were just teaching rainman here a lesson."

"Call him that again and I swear to God I will find someone who will beat the shit out of you." Toby snapped "Leave him alone, he's just a kid."

"Yeah, a kid in a college." Erik snorted "Must be pretty damn smart in order to be here. Aren't ya?"

The kid looked up to Toby for assistance, his eyes wide with terror. "If I see you assholes messing around with him again I'm definitely getting someone I know who would kick your sorry asses better than I would."

"You can't even fight, Curtis." Brandon laughed

"Beat it." Toby spat

"Come on, the doctor isn't fun to mess with anymore." Chad said, and the three went back to whatever class they had, Toby didn't care. Just as long as they were out of sight, out of mind.

"You okay?" he asked the boy, crouching down next to him. This kid couldn't be older than fifteen or sixteen, give or take a year or two.

Toby held out his hand, but he seemed reluctant. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. That's a promise."

The boy still looked confused and searched around for something. Picking up an unknown object, his eyes widened in horror at the sight of the object he was holding. Broken glasses. Toby sighed, and reached for them, but the boy moved back and his ID fell out of his pocket. Sylvester Dodd.

"Sylvester, huh?" That shocked him.

"How do you know?" Sylvester asked, his voice shaking.

Toby handed Sylvester his ID and helped him up. "You're not gonna hurt me, are you?"

"I promised I wouldn't."

"R-right." He adjusted the broken glasses on his face and Toby gave an amused chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just, nothing. I'll be able to fix those for you if you want." Toby said "I'm going to meet my friend, I'm sure he has plenty of tape."

Sylvester was trying to analyze him. He knew it by the way the kid was looking at him. "What're you doing?" he asked and the kid's head snapped up. "N-nothing."

"Right, you were trying to analyze me."

"I wasn't!" Sylvester protested

"Kiddo, I hate to tell you this, but I can see right through lies, it doesn't work with me." Toby chuckled "I may have been a doctor for two years, made my way from just a regular shrink to a world class shrink, I think I know a thing or two."

"Y-you're not mad?"

"Why would I be? I haven't meet a person I couldn't analyze." Toby opened the door to the lab. "Hey, Walt! Get over here!"

There was another college student on a ladder, doing calculus, Sylvester recognized the writing on the wall. He looked behind him and noticed him and Toby. Sylvester pressed himself closer to Toby, tense. The shrink caught this and rested a hand on Sylvester's back. "Relax, buddy. This is my friend Walter."

"Hello. Toby can I talk to you?" Walter asked, pulling the shrink farther back into the room. "What is he doing here?"

"Relax, Walt. The kid was in trouble so I had to save him." Toby replied, their voices were barely over whispers.

"He can't be here, this project is top secret!"

"Walter, listen to me. I think this kid is a genius."

"How can you be so sure?" Walter snapped

"See if he beats you in chess."

"Fine." Walter growled and they both walked over to where Sylvester was waiting.

He looked up, confused and now terrified at Walter's expression. What did it mean? Toby walked over to him and whispered, "Don't worry, I'll teach you how to analyze people later."

"Do you know how to play chess?" Walter asked. Sylvester nodded. "All right, Toby where did you put my chess set?"

"I didn't put it anywhere. That was you Mr. I always remember where I put my stuff."

"You and Happy used it last."

"Did not! That was you, Walter, yes you, and Happy! I was writing my paper that- thank God- I managed to finish."

"Just help me find it."

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And done with chapter one! I figured Sylvester might've gone to college like Toby had when he was 15 or 16 after he had run away from his parents which was when he was 14. I can imagine a little Sylvester scared and confused as he walks around some city with no clue of what to do. His fears would drive him out of every little spot in the city because it was too dirty. I guess to Sylvester, Toby was as close to a brother even if he wasn't related to him. I bet Toby protected him if anybody messed with his little bro. If you haven't guessed by now, Sylvester is my favorite Scorpion. And just to mess with the feels, I'll throw in a flashback chapter of his life away from his parents. See you in the next chapter!


	2. Chess

All right! Chapter 2! It's going to get a bit AU-ish where Happy isn't married… may be a little weird? I don't know yet. Anyways, more Toby and Sylvester time!

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Chess

Sylvester loved chess. It was an easy game. You had to protect the king. If it's gone, then game over. Walter proved a challenging opponent, he had no idea of the strategy that this man had. He had a higher IQ than the human calculator, 197. His was only 149. Walter's moves were quick. He knew how to corner the opponent's pieces. Little did Walter know, Sylvester knew his way around a chess board.

After nine long moves, it had been almost a half an hour. Toby was getting bored. "Come on! Someone make a move already! You've both got bishops cornered, and Sylvester has your knights Walter!"

"Chess is a game about strategy, Toby. Sometimes things take time."

"Checkmate." The two looked at the board. Sylvester had Walter's king cornered. The white knight was cornering the black king.

"I'm sorry, Walter. How many moves was that?" Toby asked sarcasm dripping in his voice and a smug smile on his face.

"Ten moves." Walter couldn't believe it. Sure there were games with 10 moves, but he had never been able to figure them out. He should've been able to by now. But this kid knew his way around a chess board. "What's your name?"

"Sylvester Dodd."

He knew Sylvester. This genius had hacked a bank and stolen 2,500 dollars in cash. Walter never reported him only because he was a genius. He decided to ask if the teenager remembered him.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Walter O'Brien. You found me after I…" Sylvester trailed off. "You didn't report me, did you?"

"No I didn't." Walter said "I probably should have but after seeing that you were the hacker- you were only a fourteen-year-old- but the fact that you knew how to hack a bank threw me off. I hadn't ever considered there being more geniuses out there than those that I know."

Sylvester nodded and Toby looked confused. "So you don't tell me about your part-time jobs, Walter, and you go out finding people?"

"I was a forensic analyst, it wasn't very exciting, Toby. Besides shouldn't you be checking in on Happy?"

"Oh, crap!" Toby exclaimed "Thank you Walter for reminding me!"

"Whose Happy?" Sylvester asked

"Toby's girlfriend. I don't believe in relationships personally, but I have a feeling that he's going to screw something up."

"Hey! We've been perfectly happy, thank you very much Mr. Forensic Analyst!" Toby shot back as he pulled out his cell phone to call his girlfriend.

Walter watched Sylvester look at the board. The teen's eyes moved over each calculation while his brain figured out each problem. He decided to break the silence. "So, you like calculus?"

Sylvester jumped and turned his head in a sharp movement. "Y-yes. How did you know?"

"You keep looking at the several chalkboards around here. They've all got calculus problems on them."

"You don't believe me, Happy? Sly, come here!" Toby called him over.

Nerves biting him, Sylvester walked over to the shrink. "Sylvester this is Happy, and vice versa."

"Hello, Sylvester!" The voice clearly belonged to this "Happy" character. Sylvester still didn't know whether to trust her yet. "I'm sorry we can't meet in person just yet, I'm awfully busy at my father's garage fixing the cars people bring in." Happy said. Sylvester registered the information in his mind, Happy was a mechanic, Toby was a shrink, and Walter, he still had no idea what Walter did but he had a feeling it was something to do with technology. "Anyways, I've got to go. Someone just brought in this completely fucked up Ferrari. Hopefully we'll meet soon!" The line went dead.

"You're a doctor and she's a mechanic. I don't get how you two get along with each other." Sylvester said

"Well, Sly -you don't mind me calling you that do you?- she's hot and I love her and all her hotness." Toby replied

"I'm going to pretend I just didn't hear you call someone hot."

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The three left the college and headed to the garage that they were renting in Massachusetts, only because Los Angeles was too far and they were graduating soon.

"This is where we do most of our work. Everyone has what they need to get their jobs done." Walter said

"Hey, Mark!" Toby exclaimed "Meet the new member, Sylvester!"

"Hello, Sylvester. I'm sure we'll get along fine." Mark quipped

"I guess we'll have to move some things around for another desk, if you want to join, that is." Walter said

"I don't want to go back home." The human calculator responded "I guess staying here would be fine."

"You can stay with me in my apartment." Toby offered

Sylvester nodded, thankful that he didn't have to spend another night on the streets.

"All right we can get you moved in later, for now let's just stay here and wait for Happy to come back so you can meet her in person."

"She called here after she called you, she won't be back until tomorrow." Mark said

"What? Come on, Happy! You know I wanted to go out with you tonight!" Toby protested but Happy couldn't hear him because she wasn't there.

Mark hadn't said anything else, just went back to whatever he was working on. Toby sighed, "All right then Sylvester, you want to leave now?"

Sylvester nodded, happy that he didn't have to speak up anymore. "Come on, buddy. I'll give you a grand tour of the place when we get there." Toby slung his arm around Sylvester, knowing he was nervous from meeting everyone. They had walked out of the garage and made it to the apartments in a half an hour drive.

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"Sorry if it's a little too messy for your liking, I don't care for cleaning things." Toby said, opening the door to his apartment.

"And you're a doctor, how?"

"Shrink, actually. Are you ready for the grand tour?"

"Why not?" the human calculator replied

"Spare bedroom is down that hall across from the bathroom," Toby pointed to a hallway "My bedroom is next to the bathroom because I don't know that's how the house was. Living room is right here, kitchen is down that hall."

After he spoke, Toby led Sylvester to the various places he mentioned. They went to the bedrooms last only because it was ten at night. "Do you need anything, buddy?" Toby asked

Sylvester shook his head "Not really. I don't have much anyways."

"Well, we'll get you some new things tomorrow." The shrink began "I'm tired, that game of chess wore me out."

"It didn't do that to me."

"Well, you like chess so that's why."

"And you don't?"

"Nope. Good night, buddy."

"Night, Toby." Sylvester curled up in the bed. Maybe things were starting to turn around for him. He only hoped that there would be more good things happening in the future.

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End of chapter 2! I'm not so sure how I feel about this one… seemed a little, out of place I guess. I don't know. I guess it's up to you to decide whether you like it or not. Chapter 3 coming soon!


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